Grip device

ABSTRACT

A device is shown which is utilized to strengthen gripping muscles of the user&#39;s hand as well as thumb muscles of the user&#39;s hand. The device has first and second handles which may be gripped by the user to strengthen the user&#39;s gripping muscles. The device may be oriented upside down so that the user can grasp the first and second handles with his or her left and right hands. The user&#39;s thumbs may rest upon thumb pads extending out of the first and second handles. These thumb pads may be depressed cyclically to strengthen the user&#39;s thumb muscles. Accordingly, the device provides additional features and benefits.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

Not Applicable

STATEMENT RE: FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH/DEVELOPMENT

Not Applicable

BACKGROUND

The various embodiments disclosed herein relate to a hand exercise device.

A number of hand exercising devices exist in the prior art. The traditional hand exercise device has a torsion spring with first and second handles connected to the legs of the torsion spring. The user can grip the first and second handles and squeeze the first and second handles to strengthen his or her gripping muscles.

Another type of hand gripping device integrates four push pads which are biased to an extended position. Each of the push pads align to one of the four fingers of the user's hand. In this way, the user can exercise an individual finger muscle independent from the muscles of the other fingers. This is often utilized in sports that might require strengthening of one finger such as pistol shooting.

Unfortunately, prior art hand exercise devices are limited to their specific purpose of exercising the gripping muscles of the user. Accordingly, there is a need in the art for an improved hand exercise device.

BRIEF SUMMARY

The various embodiments disclosed herein address the needs discussed above, discussed below and those that are known in the art. A hand gripping and thumb muscle exercising device is disclosed. The device may have first and second handles which can be gripped by one hand of the user. By squeezing the first and second handles together, the user may strengthen his or her gripping muscles. This can be done repetitively to strengthen the user's gripping muscles. The device may also be rotated upside down so that the first and second handles can be gripped by the user's left and right hands, respectively. The thumbs of the user may rest on thumb pads that are biased to an extended position. The user may depress the thumb pads to exercise his or her thumb muscles. In this regard, the device combines gripping and thumb muscle exercise capabilities.

More particularly, a grip device for strengthening muscles of a person's hand and thumb is disclosed. The device may comprise a first elongate handle, a second elongate handle and a biasing member. The first elongate handle may define a distal end with a thumb pad biased to an extended position and traversable between the extended position and a depressed position for exercising thumb muscles of the person. The second elongate handle may be displaced away from the first elongate handle. The biasing member may serve to bias the first elongate handle apart from the second elongate handle wherein the first and second elongate handles are traversable between an open position and a closed position for exercising hand muscles of the person.

The first and/or second elongate handles may be sized and configured to be gripped by the person's hand.

The second elongate handle has a distal end with a thumb pad biased to the extended position. The thumb pad may be traversed between the extended position and the depressed position for exercising thumb muscles of the person.

The biasing member that spreads the first and second elongate handles apart may be a coil or torsion spring.

The first elongate handle may be hollow for receiving a first compression spring. The thumb pad may be disposed on a shaft that reciprocates to compress and decompress the first compression spring.

The second elongate handle may also be hollow for receiving a second compression spring. The thumb pad of the second elongate handle may be disposed on a shaft that reciprocates to compress and decompress the second compression spring.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other features and advantages of the various embodiments disclosed herein will be better understood with respect to the following description and drawings, in which like numbers refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

FIG. 1 is a side view of a device for exercising a user's gripping muscle and thumb muscles wherein the device is being used to strengthen the user's gripping muscles;

FIG. 2 is a side view of the device shown in FIG. 1 wherein the device is used to strengthen the user's thumb muscles; and

FIG. 3 is an exploded view of a thumb exercising mechanism integrated into the handles of the device shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Referring now to the drawings, a device 10 for exercising hand muscles as well as thumb muscles is shown. The user may grip first and second elongate handles 12, 14 with one hand. The fingers 16 of the user may be wrapped around the first elongate handle 12 while the thumb of the user may be wrapped around the second elongate handle 14. A torsion spring 18 provides opposed resistance as the user squeezes the first and second handles 12, 14 closer to each other as shown by arrows 20. The user squeezes the first and second handles 12, 14 and slowly relaxes his or her hand to exercise the gripping muscles of the user's hand. The user may grip a device 10 in each of his or her hands and repetitiously squeeze the first and second handles 12, 14 of the device 10 to strengthen his or her gripping muscles. This exercise is shown in FIG. 1. The user may also rotate the device 10 in the orientation shown in FIG. 2. The right hand of the user may grip the second elongate handle 12 while the left hand of the user grips the first elongate handle 14. The user's thumbs 22 may be placed upon thumb pads 24. The user may exercise his or her thumb muscles by depressing the thumb pads 24 and slowly releasing the thumb pads 24. The first and second elongate handles 12, 14 may have a biasing member 54 within the handles 12, 14 that biases the thumb pad 24 to the extended position to provide resistance as the thumbs 22 of the user traverse the thumb pads 24 to the depressed position and back. The device 10 combines a hand exercise device as well as a device for exercising thumb muscles of the user's hand.

More particularly, referring now to FIG. 1, the grip device 10 is used to develop or strengthen the gripping muscles of the user's hand and the thumb muscles of the user's hand. To this end, the grip device 10 has first and second elongate handles 12, 14. These handles 12, 14 may be attached to each other by a torsion spring 18. The torsion spring 18 has two legs 26, 28 which may be set at an angle 30 so that the position of the first and second handles 12, 14 are comfortably spread apart for an adult user to grip the handles 12, 14. The maximum angle 30 may be limited by clip 31. By way of example and not limitation, the angle 30 may be between 15° and 45°. The first and second handles 12, 14 may define first and second ends 32, 34. The legs 26, 28 of the torsion spring 18 may be attached to the first ends 32 of the first and second elongate handles 12, 14. Preferably, central axes of the first and second elongate handles 12, 14 are aligned to the central axis of the legs 26, 28 but other orientations are also contemplated. By way of example and not limitation, the central axes of the first and second elongate handles 12, 14 may be skewed with respect to the axes of the legs 26, 28 of the torsion spring 18.

The first and second handles 12, 14 are attached to the first and second legs 26, 28 of the torsion spring 18. During operation, as the user squeezes the first and second handles 12, 14, tension is placed on the torsion spring 18 to provide resistance and build the gripping muscles of the user's hand. The user may slowly release the first and second handles 12, 14 to further build the muscles of the user's hand.

Referring now to FIG. 2, the grip device 10 may also be utilized to develop and strengthen the thumb muscles of the user. To this end, the grip device 10 is rotated to the orientation shown in FIG. 2. The handles 12, 14 are pointing upward. The user grips each of the elongate handles 12, 14 with one hand. The thumbs 22 of the user may rest upon the thumb pads 24 of each of the handles 12, 14. The user may depress the thumb pads 24 simultaneously or alternatively to exercise the thumb muscles. As shown in FIG. 2, the thumb pads 24 are biased to the extended position. The thumb 22 presses on the thumb pad 24 to traverse the thumb pad 24 to a depressed position (see the second elongate handle 14). The user can also depress the thumb pad 24 of the first elongate handle 12 with the other thumb. Accordingly, the device 10 integrates a thumb exercising device into the handles of the grip strengthening device.

Referring now to FIG. 3, an exploded view of the thumb exercising mechanism 37 is shown. More particularly, the thumb pad 24 may be attached to a shaft 36. A retainer 38 may have a through hole 40 which receives the shaft 36. The shaft 36 can reciprocate within the through hole 40 of the retainer 38 as the thumb pad 24 is reciprocally traversed between the extended position and the depressed position. The distal end portion 42 of the shaft 36 may have internal threads 44. After the shaft 36 is inserted into the through hole 40, a washer 46 may be mounted to the distal end portion 42. To this end, a bolt or screw 48 is inserted through the washer 46 and screwed onto the internal threads 44 at the distal end portion 42 of the shaft 36. The screw 48 holds the washer 46 in place on the distal end portion 42 of the shaft 36. The washer 46 defines an outer diameter 50 which is greater than an outer diameter 52 of an internal compression spring 54. The spring 54 is seated on the washer 46 and a bottom surface 57 of a hollow cavity 56 within the elongate handle 12 or 14.

To assemble the thumb exercising mechanism 37, the spring 54 is initially inserted into the hollow cavity 56. The shaft 36 of the thumb pad 24 is inserted through the through hole 40 of the retainer 38. The washer 46 is mounted to the distal end portion 42 of the shaft 36 with a screw 48. External threads 58 of the retainer 38 are engaged to internal threads 60 formed at the distal end portion of the hollow cavity 56 of the elongate handle 12 or 14.

As the threads 58 of the retainer 38 engage the threads 60 within the hollow cavity 56, the opposed ends of the spring 54 contact the washer 46 and the bottom surface 57 of the hollow cavity 56. As the retainer 38 is screwed into the hollow cavity 56, the compression spring 54 is preloaded so that no play exist in the thumb pads 24. By regulating the insertion depth of the retainer 38, and more particularly, degree of engagement of the external threads 58 of the retainer 38 into interior threads 60 of the hollow cavity 56, the preload on the coil compression springs 54 may be increased or decreased to provide more or less resistance to the thumb of the user. For example, when the retainer 38 is inserted deeply into the hollow cavity 56, the compression spring 54 is compressed to a greater degree compared to the situation where the retainer 38 is not as deeply inserted into the hollow cavity 56. By starting out with a greater preload on the compression spring 54, a higher level of resistance is provided to the user's thumb 22 when the user is depressing the thumb pads 24.

In operation, the user may initially engage the retainer 38 into the hollow cavity 56 at a minimal insertion depth. This provides the least amount of resistance and sets the device at a beginner's training level. As the thumb muscles of the user improve, the user may thread the retainer 38 more deeply into the hollow cavity 56 by threading the external threads 58 of the retainer 38 further into the internal threads 60 of the hollow cavity 56. By doing so, the coil compression spring 54 is preloaded to a greater extent and provides greater resistance for thumb muscle building exercises.

To exercise the user's thumb 22, each of the user's left and right hands may grip the first and second elongate handles 12, 14 in the orientation shown in FIG. 2. The user may rest his or her thumbs 22 on the thumb pads 24. To begin exercising the thumb muscles, the user depresses the thumb pads 24 repetitiously. As the user depresses the thumb pads 24, the spring 54 is depressed providing resistance and strengthening the user's thumb muscles.

The above description is given by way of example, and not limitation. Given the above disclosure, one skilled in the art could devise variations that are within the scope and spirit of the invention disclosed herein, including various ways of shaping the thumb pads 24. Further, the various features of the embodiments disclosed herein can be used alone, or in varying combinations with each other and are not intended to be limited to the specific combination described herein. Thus, the scope of the claims is not to be limited by the illustrated embodiments. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A grip device for strengthening muscles of a person's hand and thumb, the device comprising: a first elongate handle defining a distal end with a thumb pad biased to an extended position and traversable between the extended position and a depressed position for exercising thumb muscles of the person; a second elongate handle displaced away from the first elongate handle; a biasing member for biasing the first elongate handle apart from the second elongate handle wherein the first and second elongate handles are traversable between an open position and a closed position for exercising hand muscles of the person.
 2. The device of claim 1 wherein the first and second elongate handles are sized and configured to be gripped by the person's hand.
 3. The device of claim 2 wherein the first elongate handle is sized and configured to be gripped by the person's hand.
 4. The device of claim 1 wherein the second elongate handle defines a distal end with a thumb pad biased to an extended position and traversable between the extended position and a depressed position for exercising thumb muscles of the person.
 5. The device of claim 1 wherein the biasing member that spreads the first and second elongate handles apart is a coil spring.
 6. The device of claim 1 wherein the first elongate handle is hollow for receiving a compression spring and the thumb pad is disposed on a shaft that reciprocates to compress and decompress the spring.
 7. The device of claim 4 wherein the second elongate handle is hollow for receiving a compression spring and the thumb pad of the second elongate handle is disposed on a shaft that reciprocates to compress and decompress the spring. 